Muslim women MPs..

The learned ones in the Parliment are debating 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha. Eeryone is demanding their pound of flesh as they all want to "deliver" something to their customers, when the 16th Lok Sabha rolls in. Muslims and some other national parties including RJD are demanding reservation for Muslim women as well.

My concern is are we doing a Pakistan here? Pakistan has become a family business of about 200 rich families. Like any other family businesses they keep the power to themselves and make sure no outside of the family takes over the business. No matter how unsuitable one member is, the job is for her / him to keep. Top positions are decided on the baiss of the last names and whether or not some one has the family DNA.

We must learn something from our neighbours....shouldn't we?

I think we must create women leaders first, before offering them reservations. Other communities have no dearth of talents but Muslim women needs some help. We must create free thinking visionaries out of them, that can debate on the topics of national and international interest with ease. We seldom allowed them to have an opinion of their own, and now we are going to give them a nation to run? A nation with dramatic complexities and extremes as ours...

I am in favor of some version of the bill ( for some period of time), but we must develop women leaders of morrow before we hand them responsibilities...unless ofcourse we are looking for Bahu-Beti Brigades to take over!

Obama engages the Muslim World...

Jhnthesavage I'm a Fan of johnthesavage permalink

As the leader of "one of the "largest Muslim countries" in the world, I'm sure Barack Hussein Obama will find a warm welcome in the Saudi kingdom.

urnumbersix I'm a Fan of urnumbersix permalink

How do Republicans "get" to call Obama a Muslim - and at the same time "hit" him for the unquestionable Christian, Rev. Wright, at the same time? It's as foolish as the "birth certificate" matter. 

shovelready I'm a Fan of shovelready permalink

how blessed we all are to be alive while our dear leader is doing the hard work to bring peace to this world. The mere fact that we have a leader willing to reach out with an open hand and not a clenched fist. We are the ones we have been waiting for, hope and change!

nichtviel I'm a Fan of nichtviel permalink

What's with all the excitement over meeting with one of the world's sponsors of terrorism? Or over calling the world's most brutal cult-religion a respectable thing? Is this a "say goodbye to American values" tour our President is on?

pamelagoodenough I'm a Fan of pamelagoodenough permalink

If we do not make peace with the world, after the insolent arrogant way George W. Bush the little klown prince ruled, we will have not world to worry about.

If America does not mature, or cannot mature beyond the fundamentalist religious buffoonery that is now advanced to the murdering of doctors, then we will become the enemy of the world.

We must have PEACE IN OUR TIME. That or misery and destruction. That is the goal. That must be the message.  

All humans deserve respect. All cultures are equal. All religions are equal, they are the same with different patterns

pangurban I'm a Fan of pangurban permalink 

I hope it is a great speech. I hope it is well received. So grateful Obama is our president. There is so much to be done to repair the damage of the Dub Ya administration and its l00ny foreign polic

bluejoni2525 I'm a Fan of bluejoni2525 permalink

It is such a pleasure to have an intelligent person as the President . Yes, after eight long years I am PROUD to be an American again !!

BeachBubbaTex I'm a Fan of BeachBubbaTex permalink

Honestly, I think he's safer there. It scares the bejebbers out of me every time he runs out for a burger. I don't care if he waits for the press but he sure as heck better be waiting for those dudes with the lapel pins.

HawaiianPunch I'm a Fan of HawaiianPunch permalink

I'm proud of my President.

A bizarre, unfamiliar fee ling.

Left, Right and Democracy

Elections are over and political pundits are busy analyzing results and writing obituaries for left and the right. I, for one don't expect that to happen and would not want that to happen. 

Democracies do not flourish when a single party rules a country. In fact the democratic institutions get weakened when a single party calls the shots, without opposition asking tough questions and demanding answers.  Furehe'r had no opposition, when he unleashed holocaust on jews in Germany. George W. had almost no opposition when he decided to change the face of the World post 911, as majority of the congressmen and senators had caved in  and made Capitol Hill a one party residence. The results are for all of us to see and suffer, while 43th re-writes history.

An intelligent and visionary opposition has the power of saving the country from catastrophe. A case in example would be of Left playing hard balls with the Congress on allowing 100% FDI. Communist slowed down the juggernaut of super capitalism and halted the corporate greed in its tracks. If its not for left the newly created Indian middle class would have known the true meanings of CDO, CDS, MBS and other derivatives, albeit at a higher price. India owes a lot to the the left for staying their ground against the most powerful forces.

A party in power with absolute majority gets arrogant and see no need for seeking consensus on important issues. Opposition is ignored and silenced. In India there were a few states that had become a political jagerdari of Left, RJD and the BJP.  They thought they owned the political  agenda of generations after generations of voters. They were wrong.

These parties lost in touch with the new voter who is getting wired 24X7 to the outside world and is seeking the finest things he/she saw on TV. That voter is looking for a higher standard of living, clean parks, transperency, and adequate infrastructure.  It was easy to fool his / her parents in the name of Mandal, Kamandal and sickle, but he / she is a pragmatist, who wants all the finer things in life . Now!

Every party has a "base" from which it draws its strength and affords political maneuvering. It also seeks to fufill the wishes and aspirations of this core base. But Elections are not won on  the baiss of the "base" alone, you need others (sometime include Mulims, Dalits and other weakers sections). in order to win elections. These ID based parties cater too much to the base, and try to win those those that are already sold out on the idea. In this election the parties that suffered most were catering to that " base." 

You don't rule a country of 1 billion, 18 major languages, and every religion on earth by just catering to your core base.  

And then there is this 39 year old jebroni; a student of Michael Porter  ( Harvard professor who formulated Five Forces Model in the field of strategy management), who has  been covering length and breadth of the country  connecting with voters, expanding network and discovering India. There is no surprise that he is called the architect of the congress win. Two force of the five forces model are: a - threat of substitute, and b - bargaining power of customers. While Rahul Gandhi understood these forces well, other seasoned politicians assumed the customer has no choice.

These parties can still redeem themselves by becoming a model opposition. You can work for the people even while sitting on the opposition benches!

BTW Al-Qaida means "the base" in Arabic...

(Picture Coutrsey: Boston Globe)

Look who showed up at Five Guys today...

Incidently Mullah, Walty, Powell and I were at Five Guys - Lindbergh for lunch at the same time. Mullah chuckled Great minds think alike....

Measure of Success

There are times when you are going to do well, and times when you're going to fail. But neither the doing well, nor the failure is the measure of success. The measure of success is what you think about what you've done. Let me put that another way: The way to be happy is to like yourself and the way to like yourself is to do only things that make you proud.

(Marc S. Lewis, Professor, University of Texas, Austin)

My evening started with this forwarded quote from a friend.It is so powerfull that I had to share it. Enjoy!

ps: In case you have not recognized him, the cyclist in the picture is Husain Obama.

My brother in law got me into it...

"Actually I was not into politics, but my brother in law Khaliq and my friend Jameel forced me into politics. They told me that I don't have any identity problem, and I should get into politics. It took me two years to get convinced but once I got into it- I am enjoying it"

This is how Azhar responded to a query form Parnnoy Roy, about the reason he joined politics.

I wish he had better reasons for entering politics. If I was his constituent there is no way in the hell I would vote for someone with those reasons for entering politics. I would only entrust him with Moradabad Cricket Academy,  and not a seat in Parliament.

India needs a leadership that has progressive ideas, vision and wisdom in his/ her DNA,  to make it a force to be reckoned with in the world. 

I am not sure whether to take it as an honest admission of a rookie politician or just plain jane innocence, neverthless those words are not reassuring...

Khush rahe tu...

Climbing up and other secrets...

Who's idea was it?

I asked that question on the 8th.

Mine

Mullah Luis responded on the 10th

Why man?

Because by walking up the 27 story we could burn 250 calories in 10 minutes which takes 45 minutes running on a treadmil. Also the effect of gravity lessens  as we walk up making it easy....

But we get less oxygen as we go up putting more pressure on heart, one engineer responded.

Ever since Mullah's FPN left him for a jail bird he has become body conscious. He joined  the Georgia Tech gym for a month, dropped out due to non availability of time  and now came up with this idea of hiking 540 steps of our office building twice a day.  He says that anyone  in jail can build a good physique, as all you are required to do is eat healthy food , play and sleep. Apparently that guy knows how to use his time well by exercising, which will pay dividends when he gets out of jail.

Me: Whom are you trying to impress now that she is gone?

Mullah: Plaintiff number 2.....the next one....

Mullah now lovingly calls his ex wife,  the plaintiff number 1. 

So, this has become our ritual now a days. We walk up 27 stories,  twice a day. I don't go for the second round, as I am not over weight and see no competition to my domains from a jail or any other bird. 

Friends can make any idiotic activity fun. We meet at 10 sharp in the lobby and climb 540 storeys with regular stops on 10, 16,  and 22nd floor. Mullah reminds us every day that he is looking for a day when he will be able to walk 27 story without taking a break.

This mundane activity taught me two important lessons of life. The first one is, after 11 story, height and number of steps to climb don't matter.  The second lesson makes it clear that, it is tough to GO DOWN after CLIMBING UP. The leg muscles get so worked up after climbing that going down even a single step becomes a "painful" task.... 

Oh well...

PS: For lunch, Mullah orders a quarter pounder with extra cheese and large fries.  And since he is calorie conscious now,  he never forgets to order large diet coke for drink.

....but that  is another story!!

Entreprenuership Development....

I was to deliver a lecture on entrepreneurship development at the AMP Job fair being held at my alma mater, Saboo Siddik College of Engineering April 11-12, 2009. Logistics of delivering an online lecture did not work out, so here I am, showing my entrepreneurial spirits by posting the slides for those that might have felt disappointed. Cheers.....

Jaane woh kaise log the ?

Till Jefferson County do us apart...

Mullah Luis filed for divorce in the Jefferson Counry superior court last week. 

It was filed as a " no fault" divorce. No fault divorce has its origins in the Russian Revolution of 1917. It found its way to the US when President Reagan signed the family Act of 1969, enabling couples to separate in civilized manner citing only irreconcilable differences as the main cause.

I was concerned about his well being, anticipated him breaking down and upset for some time. I kept in touch with him, but to my surprise found him to be in a better frame of mind. I asked him why is he not upset, to which he responded" Marriages end long before they are certified dead on arrival in the County court. My marriage ended long time ago, and what I did was just a formalization of that event". 

It is funny thing about life as you don't know when you fall in love with someone but you do know the exact moment when you fell out of it....

I don't want to judge the reasons for Mulah's FPN to leave him for a "jail bird". I wanted to talk to her but Mullah requested that he does not want any mediation and he is done with the marriage.

So the question is when should a man / woman try to save marriage?

Mullah says the time to save marriage is when you are "really" married. Anything past that, is an exercise in futility. Trying to save a marriage after it ended in ones heart is a selfish act of maximizing profits and cutting losses.

What is bothering Mullah these days, is the fact that she is turning over all the symbols and memories from the past for him to handle. Mullah is more angry about Oscar and Kathy, her dogs, that she is leaving for Mullah to put up for adoption. 

Mullah thinks that she does not want to take this decision of getting rid of dogs by herself, so she is passing her guilt to him. Now, Mullah would have to get over a failed marriage as well as take the decision to put dogs for adoption... 

Apna Manohar Parsaad Yadav too recalled how his ex girl friend returned all his letters and photographs, before she embarked on her journey with a new man. She too passed her guilt for him to handle.....alone!

This is how it is in the life lane....

Common-sense-ism...

With market heading south in since August of last year, Mullah Luis and I have lost a lot of money in the market like milions of others around the world. We bitch about the Wall Street greed and how investors were taken for a ride by bunch of over smart people.

In order to get back in black we try to do our bit by advancing the cause of humanity. Everyday we try to fix the economy and the world supply-denmand disruption at lunch time. This morning he and I began saving the world a little early. Here are a few lines from our email exchanges that I found to be revealing (about Mulah's personality). 

It should be a good read for those that wonder what an average blue blooded repub American thinks about the state of economy and the root causes for it. Enjoy...

Mullah: I don’t know what else to say. Human Beings have Technological problems. Not political, not social. Technology is what will keep us moving forward as a species. Politicians think they can solve problems by making laws, when in fact, only technology can save us. Technology will let us leave the middle east alone, technology will allow us to work remotely from anywhere in the world.

We’ll see what happens next. If everything is going to be good, then why are we still losing jobs by the hundreds of thousands every month? The economy has to contract and shed the fluff that has been built in to the system via financials since the 1990’s.

Me: What are you talking about man? I think human beings have “only and only social problems”, and all these ills are a manifestation of it…the sooner we fix social/humanitarian problems the better-off we would be…

Mullah: You are such a socialist! LOL!

Me: Humanist……I can live with that…What is up for lunch? I have to go to the post office at Peachtree Center...

Mullah: Anyone can be a humanist…even a capitalist. Socialism breeds complacency, there should be no limits placed on how far someone can take their life. So long as they don’t negatively affect someone else’s life.

The government should be around to protect people’s freedoms and liberty. The government should insure that the companies of this country are following guidelines too. They shouldn’t be left to run wild and then expect the government to bail them out. That is what we did because we are no longer capitalist; we no longer follow the constitution. We have some form a fascism and that is very bad!

Me: How about following “Humanism”, which can bring the best from all us? Because every “ism” has some negatives. Let us work on something that combines best of all. What u described can be a good start…

The future is here...

Thank You!

Maharashtra College

Ramesh Kumar, Butiya Manoj Ramesh, Siddiki Rubina, Mansori Heena, sheikh Farina, Ansari Nida, Ansari Taiyaba, Mahroz M. Mohsin, Gulshan M. Qauyyom, Zakiya Bano M. Zakariya, Khan Naziya Parveen M. Sharif, Sana Anwar Khan, Noor Afsha, Ansari Razia, Sarvat Qureshi, Ansari Lubna, Shaikh Nazreen, Momin Firdaus, Ansari Nazish Naaz, Shaikh Tabassum Mhod Hanif, sheikh Arshiya G. Mohammad, Shaikh F shafi, ansari Yasmeen samiullah, Butiya Manjoj Ramesh, A Aqub, sheikh M Tahir, Ansari Heena Kausar Mushtaq, sayed azhar ali Qamar Ali, Mohammad Ahmad Siddieque, Imran Tamboli, Zafar Sayed, , Fakhri Khusnod, Zakariya A. Ukai, Abdul Hameed, Mohd Nafees, shamsuddin, Masood Alam siddiki, Ansari Nazreen, Shaikh Tassudduk, Khan Asma, Sheikh Saeeda,Khan Zainab, Kazi Rumana, Ansari Shama, Ansari samina, Ansari Saniya, Ansari shaista, Sahaikh Zakerun, Fehmida Moinuddin, Sayed Tabassum, Qureshi Saima, Khan Mehvish, Khan shaheen, Khan Mehjabeen, Ansari Sidra, Ansari Umaira, Ansari Naziya, Ansari sadiya, Ansari Afreen, Saifi Ali Varsh, Khan Ashraf.

SNDT - Ghatkopar

Rukhsar Khan, Vaishali Cureaw, Hetal Zadbuke, Amulya Raskar, Prachi Pawar, Praneli Vd Patahk, Simi John, Madumita Biswas, Mohini Lokhande, Monica Kene, Chetna Marvane, sneha Sharma, Kalpana Muddilyar, Sumathi Mooopnar, Preeti Sakpal, Monika Sharma, Sameen Mushtaq,, Jyoti sikarwar, Kusum Gupta, Hafsa Farooqui.

And...

Rashmi Bansal, Piyul Mukherjee, Pia Verbic, Prof M.Z Shahid, Prof Siraj Chowgle, Prof Majid Ansari, Prof Ilyas Shauqui, Principal Shakeel Urzak, Prof Waheed.

Faizan Sayed, Shagufta Farouqui, Z. Sayed, P.N. Sayed, Altaf Paloba, Nasir Surti, Late Siddik Divecha....

Think about it....

If all the insects were to disappear from the earth, within 50 years all life on earth would end. 
If human beings were to disappear, all forms of life on earth would flourish' - Jonas Salk

Threshold India 2009 - Slide Show

A crew from UTV was at hand to record history ( at least historical moment from our perspective!). They put together a Republic Day special edition of Cracking Careers and telecast it 6 times between January 24th and 25th, 2009. For those of you that might have missed it, here it is again...

Please realize that we may not see some of the groups, but all the 8 groups returned with a profit and had interesting stories to share. For details about other groups and more photographs, please visit Kashif-ul-Huda's Two Circles.

Get inspired and join us please..it's about time!

Adios MD...

I am still grieving for a dear friend and will continue to do for a long time. It was a heart shattering shocker. They say, with each friend you die a little...a part of me died this Saturday!

A friend, trying to get me out of this phase, explained well. She said , "We all are headed that way. You were not here 50 years ago, nor would you be here 50 years from now. Do the best you can".....

So, let me do the best I can...

ps: I used to call him MD. MD as in Doctor for knowing answers, to life's most of the problems...

Why now?

Siddik bhai,

There is a Quran recitation going on in Mumbai as I write this, so that your soul may find peace in heaven. It took me more than a day to realize you are really really gone.

The question that is botherring me is why now my friend? Why now? Why did you not die when we were expecting it in December of 2007.

After speaking to the doctors and finding out what ails you, I had planned a day to honor you, by doing whatever you wanted. I asked everyone to show up in the morning. The plan was to rent a big van, and go wherever your heart desired. Do whatever you wanted to do...

No one showed up that morning...

We still went ahead with the plan. I took you with me wherever you asked. I  just wanted to see you happy, for when I returned to India in December of 2008, I  felt I would not see you. I  turned my cell phone off, told my family to forget about making any plans, and looked at the world with your eyes that day....

It was sad to see you unable to walk without my help, unable to even open the door of the car on your own. You had stopped riding your bike long time ago. It was a sad sight as this was the man who taught bike riding to many.

You wanted to do three things, and the last one was to see a Bollywood masala shoot out film. You, being a typical mumbai street wala, were a cheerleader for these kinds of movies. I hated it. I lied to you when you asked me of my opinion at the end of the film.

It was your day, whatever you said and did was suppose to be great, as I was not going to see you again....I knew.

But you proved me wrong. You came back from the dead. It was like a dream to see you riding your bike again this December. I thought those damn doctors were wrong and was happy about it. With it, came back the days of fun and nights of sitting by the footpaths of Mumbai discussing everything under the moon. Those cycles of chai, stories after stories of all kinds and colors never used to end.

This time though, I reminded everyone of how I devoted a complete day to fulfill your last wishes and what we did. This time I was honest, and told you how I hated every minute of that movie and had developed a headache. You laughed hard and appreciated my friendship...and more.

And now I hear you are gone in a hurry.

I am crying as I write this, but tell me Siddik Bhai, who the fuck is going to tell me why now? You dropped me home on your bike just two weeks ago , in the wee hours of morning and everything was cool. Why are you dead now? This time you were suppose to live my friend , this time you were going to be with me for a long time...

Why now?

THRESHOLD India 2009

Florida based Kashif-ul-Huda, of Two Circles.net helped us in spreading the word out. Please visit his web site for a detailed account of the fun we all had in hosting this watershed event of our lives!

As someone said "the best way to predict a future is to invent it!"
God willing, We will...